Colour centres in zircon containing both Eu3+ and U4+ ions
Single crystals of zircon containing both Eu3+ and U4+ were grown from flux melts cooled at rates varying between 4�/hr and 2�/hr. Irradiation with u.v. develops colour centres only in those regions of a crystal containing Eu3+ and U4+. Fluorescence and absorption spectra measured at temperatures down to 77�K show that these centres are similar in behaviour to F and F' centres in the alkali halides. They are thought to be related to an exchange coupled pair, U4+-02-Eu3+, but the experimental data permit only a description in terms of one-electron energy levels. The same basic behaviour is observed for zircon containing U4+ and any other lanthanide but some interesting differences are described for U4+, Dy3+.